CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[Drez2]

I was wondering how much resolution I could really expect out of my Marquee 9500LC...

When I got this projector, it was pretty much a stock 9500 with re-built (in 2004) VDC tubes. I added MP modded neck boards, 02 VIM, installed 6 pole magnets and HD10F lenses. Yet despite an excellent ... beautiful... picture, I really can't resolve any more than 1280 x 720 (720p). Does anyone have an opinion that it could be my set-up or just the maximum I could expect out of the re-built tubes. The tubes are otherwise in perfect condition.

I was considering the capacitor mods found here on this site or maybe taking the plunge into frankenyokes, but I don't want to chase resolution that won't ever be there!!!

thanks for the thoughts-

Dave

[Curt Palme]

Rebuilt tubes are never as good as the orignals. Lack of focus can be:

-tubes
-bad setup
-bad astig
-bad astig magnets on tube necks.

I'd go with nothing less than 4 pole magnets on the tubes, some of the 9500s came with 2 pole.

But generally speaking, yes, rebuilt tubes can be a really good reason why you're not getting a pix as good as you should be.

On a good 9: set, at 1024p (all my scaler would put out before I got the Fury2), I could get visible scanning lines at about 3' or so. That's at the center of the screen, on the G and R tubes only. Beyond 3' or so, they'd blur out.

[Curt Palme]

Rebuilt tubes are never as good as the orignals. Lack of focus can be:

-tubes
-bad setup
-bad astig
-bad astig magnets on tube necks.

I'd go with nothing less than 4 pole magnets on the tubes, some of the 9500s came with 2 pole.

But generally speaking, yes, rebuilt tubes can be a really good reason why you're not getting a pix as good as you should be.

On a good 9: set, at 1024p (all my scaler would put out before I got the Fury2), I could get visible scanning lines at about 3' or so. That's at the center of the screen, on the G and R tubes only. Beyond 3' or so, they'd blur out.

[Drez2]

Thanks Curt for the info-

I can resolve that with these tubes, so maybe it's not so bad. However now I'm beginning to question my setup. The top 2/3
is focused well but the bottom is softer. I remember that during the alignment, I felt that I had reached the maximum range in which the lens flapping would give me uniform focus. I have a 100" diagonal picture. Maybe I just need to jump back into the setup and start over.

I did replace the original 4 pole magnets with 6 poles and the spot shapes improved a little but not to where I felt it was even close to being called circles! The red tube is the best of the three... Is there any other external device beyond my description to improve the spot focus?

Too bad I was such a novice when I bought this projector... BUT... despite this thread, I LOVE the picture from my CRT projector!

[secstate]

On VDC rebuilds from the era you mention I personally experienced where they mounted the tubes not square in the hardware and this caused me to have to push lens flapping in order to get focus right. I my case the messed up green but blue was fine.

For spot size, I never got it right until I followed this post http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=728595#post728595. Also my green VDC rebuild had triangular spot and I don't think even my more advanced skills now would have fixed that (I no longer have that projector).

[Drez2]

That seems to be similar to what I am experiencing. I have maxxed out the vertical lens flapping and still can't quite get there, as well as the triangular spot shape (green tube for both issues). I tried to correct the spot shape using 6 pole magnets and that helped a little, but did not fix it totally. Too bad because after 1500+ hours on the tubes, they still do not have any wear showing. Is it possible to see the alignment of the housings to the tube face while the projector is assembled?

Dave

[secstate]

[Nashou66]

One thing I noticed on the one rebuilt Green 8 inch I had was if you look at the grain of the phosphor it was not smooth like a new tube. Looks like they used a low grade phosphor or method to place that phosphor on the glass.

You can get it sharper though, but..... you'll loose brightness. If you keep the Contrast down as with any tube it will be a bit sharper but with rebuilds it increased much more, at least for me. And even frankenyokes did not help.

Athanasios

[secstate]

[Drez2]

It seems that many of us truly are or have been disappointed with re-built tubes. The CRT assemblies I have in my Marquee were clearly assembled by VDC because written on the side of each housing is the name of the reseller I bought the projector from AND written: NEW TUBE, However, if I pull the cover on the CRT housing, it is very clear that this is a re-built CRT from VDC. I am not (completely) bashing the VDC re-built tubes (from 2004), I just find the image quality resulting from these tubes to be at a level where I might say that the hassle of the CRT projector is not worth the trouble. The picture is very good, but not great as others report from new tubes- especially LUGs! If we are going to spend the money and time to build a home theater around a CRT projector, I don't see any reason to consider re-built tubes. If it is a cost savings measure, don't bother then. It is my opinion that VDC might have damaged their reputation and business by selling rebuilt tubes as NEW. This is what I have for now, and I will continue to enjoy the picture from my Marquee - REGARDLESS of the above - because it is a very pleasing image, but it should be much better!

Dave

[Drez2]

I did not include in the above post that the re-seller I bought this projector from told me he put NEW OEM tubes from VDC into my projector. At this point looking back, I'm not sure what that meant. Maybe he thought he was buying NEW tubes.

And- adding a comment on the image quality, the phosphors, especially in the blue tube are blotchy so with a relatively
even field of brightness on an image, one can see an uneven distribution of brightness and color. No way to really
calibrate color then.

Anyway- FYI!

[Nashou66]

[Nashou66]

For the uneven brightness you need the CCM board. it adjusts the Contrast in 9 zones to even out the edges, all crt's are like this, they just naturally fall off towards the edges and corners

Athanasios

[Drez2]

Yes, thanks- I do understand that point about re-builds in general. When I bought this projector I didn't know what I know now about CRT projectors. Prior to receiving this (stock) Marquee, I had a Harman Video 7" CRT projector with Faroudja line doubler. Great combo for Laser disks! The sad truth is that it took many mods to make this Marquee look that much better than what I had...

In regards to the Color Correction Module. I do have one and I did try to boost the edge brightness. That technique worked, but overall I found the picture was softer. Right now I have several boards including that one with Dragan and he is doing his HD mods to them. This will be another step forward because of his great work. Eventually I do hope to replace the tubes with LUGs- but for now this will be excellent. I really do love the smooth -truly- film like quality of the CRT image!